TND – Not! Mardi Gras

April 10, 2013

Last Monday Google announced the beta release of GoogleNose*. I wish that it was live so that I could have shared with y’all how good my kitchen smelled last week. I kept walking back into the kitchen on Monday night to stand over the pot of simmering beans and just inhale deeply (okay, also to warm my hands up in front of the gas flame, because this is the winter that will not end, and it was cold).

Mardi Gras was February 12th this year. I know I planned to do a repeat of the Mardi Gras Dinner from last year with red beans & rice and grilled smoked meats, but something came up and that plan got nixed. I’m now completely blanking on what came up exactly to put the kibosh on that Dinner, and looking at my calendar did not magically remind me of what it was. However, I do know that having originally thought of having red beans & rice way back in early February, I’ve been haunted by thoughts of bowls of rich, thick, slow stewed beans, redolent with the flavor of smoked ham, and warm with the scents of allspice and cloves, with just a hint of heat to balance it out, ladled over buttery rice and served with piles of grilled smoked meats. Just writing it makes my mouth water.

Since I missed Mardi Gras, I decided to celebrate the other end of the Lenten Season with the New Orleans inspired menu from last year. Not because I particularly associate Easter with New Orleans – I associate Easter with Greece and whole roasted lambs on spits, but that’s a trifle impractical for my kitchen, and what would I do with all the leftovers – but because I was looking for an excuse and this seemed like a good one.